Getting Ready for the Dopey Challenge

42 days to go, not that I'm counting or anything...

My running over the past few months has been far from what I'd like it to be. But rather than sitting and complaining about it, I've begun working on a plan to improve it. The Disney Marathon is in 45 days and, even though I won't have enough time to get in shape for a great race there, I am going to get back to a place where I can "easily" run a marathon. I put easily in quotes because, as any of you who have ever run a marathon know, 26.2 miles is never truly easy. But, it can be much easier than the past few (when I've been terribly out of shape) have been for me.

The extra challenge here, of course, is going to be the fact that I'm running four races in four days. Along with many of you, I'm doing the Dopey Challenge, which means I'll be running a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon on consecutive days. Even without a time goal, that's a serious undertaking. But, it's one that I'm really looking forward to!

Last year, I ran the Goofy Challenge and had a blast. I ran the half really easy with Jeff while wearing a wizard hat, then came back and ran the marathon in 3:03:59. It was probably the most fun I've ever had running a marathon. The Disney magic really made the run feel more like an experience than just another race.

This year, I'll be running the marathon much slower. Part of that is because I have another marathon the following week (out in Maui – I'm getting married on the trip too!) and don't want to be too beat up for that. It's also because of the extra two races beforehand this year. But the biggest reason is because I learned my lesson this year – you can't run marathons hard every month or two and expect to keep improving.

2014 is going to be the year where I'm (finally) smart about my running. I have a goal race in mind – in Knoxville, Tennessee at the end of March – and I'm not going to mess that up, even if fun opportunities like running the Dopey Challenge pop up. Sure, I'll go out and run the races, have fun, but I'm going to do it in a way that benefits my training for Knoxville, not sets it back.

Over the past weekend, I took four days off – this was Mark's trademarked move, but I figured he wouldn't mind – to rest up and am feeling much better after it. I'm going to get my weekly mileage back up to a comfortable base and then start in on a real, structured marathon training plan. I'll have to tweak it a bit for Disney and Maui, but they're just going to be minor tweaks, I promise.

I'm keeping my eyes on the prize, as they say. Sub-2:50, I'm coming for you.